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N.J. woman's self-penned obit full of longing and love

When Virginia "Ginny" Hicks first consulted with funeral director Leroy Wooster in 2008, she was firm about announcing her eventual exit. No viewing. No service. "And I want to write my own obituary," she told Wooster.

"To me it's closure," Cathy adds. "It's not about us ... It's about their wishes."

But Bill Hicks didn't write his own obituary; Ginny did. So it was no surprise to the family when Wooster read them her self-written notice, including this:

Fortunately, I have 3 wonderful sons, William Mattison Hicks, Jon Thomas Hicks and Charles Hicks. Their wives are more precious to me than words can say, Carol and Cathy. I am so fortunate to have 7 grandchildren, Bill Hicks Rutherford, Jennifer Hicks Rutherford, Sharon Hicks, Holly Anne Hicks, Katie Hicks, Kyle C. Hicks and LCpl (sic) Jon T. Hicks, Jr. who was killed in the line of duty in Iraq.

Jon's Marine son and namesake lost his life in 2007 in an IED explosion. His grandmother was devastated.

The ending has an ending. I thank God for a wonderful life, my sweetheart and the life that we had together. I was the most fortunate person in the World. Thank you God. Thank you my family.

"We shared a lot," Cathy recalls of her mother-in-law. "She was very easy to talk to."

She also was feisty, chatty and — by her own admission — outspoken. While friends around the country dubbed her "Jersey Ginny," she was known to refer to herself as "Big-mouth Ginny," says her son.

Consider this:

There will be no viewing, no funeral services. You should have all visited me with kind attention when I needed you to put a smile on my face and love in my heart.

Jon Hicks says that last sentence was his mother's way of reminding her family a few more visits while she was alive wouldn't have hurt.

"She was outspoken in a joking way," is how he sees it.

Ginny Hicks also kept a daily journal to sharpen her memory. She made her last entry the day her body failed, Sept. 26.

"Another day today," she wrote, just before heading to breakfast and a quick, painless death.